This Claude Code skill addresses the complex and time-consuming process of upgrading Ruby on Rails applications. It provides developers with an AI-powered assistant to analyze their codebase, generate detailed migration guides, and preview configuration changes, significantly streamlining upgrades from legacy versions (2.3) up to the latest (8.1). The skill leverages extensive real-world experience to handle edge cases often missed in documentation, offering a practical solution for maintaining modern Rails applications.

How It Works

The skill employs a robust, experience-driven methodology centered on sequential upgrades, ensuring no versions are skipped to prevent compounding issues. It integrates a dual-boot strategy, allowing applications to run with both old and new Rails versions simultaneously using the next_rails gem for safe transition and testing. A deprecation-first approach is enforced: developers are guided to enable and fix deprecation warnings in their current version before proceeding with the version bump, minimizing post-upgrade debugging.

Quick Start & Requirements

Installation is recommended via the Claude Code CLI: /plugin marketplace add ombulabs/claude-skills /plugin install rails-upgrade@ombulabs-ai /plugin install rails-load-defaults@ombulabs-ai /plugin install dual-boot@ombulabs-ai

Alternatively, use terminal commands or manual Git cloning and copying to ~/.claude/skills/. The skill requires the companion rails-load-defaults and dual-boot skills. Basic usage involves navigating to the Rails application directory within Claude Code and using natural language prompts like "Upgrade my Rails app to 7.2".

Highlighted Details

• Supports upgrades across a wide range of Rails versions, from 2.3 through 8.1.
• Built upon an estimated 60,000+ developer hours of professional Rails upgrade experience.
• Generates comprehensive upgrade reports and previews of rails app:update changes tailored to the specific codebase.
• Implements a proven methodology detailed in "The Complete Guide to Upgrade Rails" ebook.

Maintenance & Community

The project is sponsored by OmbuLabs.ai and FastRuby.io, specialists in Rails upgrades. Questions and contributions can be managed via GitHub issues. For inquiries, reach out to hello@ombulabs.com.

Licensing & Compatibility

This project is licensed under the MIT License, which is permissive for commercial use and integration into closed-source projects.

Limitations & Caveats

The skill focuses on code analysis and guidance, not deployment strategies like gradual rollouts or canary releases. It does not automatically debug complex issues arising from monkeypatching or resolve intricate gem dependency conflicts, which require manual intervention. Time estimates are approximate, and the skill is not specifically tailored for Rails LTS upgrades, though some principles may apply. Automated code refactoring is not provided; users implement changes based on the generated reports.